On 26 August 1892, the annual Parsis v Europeans fixture at Bombay Gymkhana was played as a two-innings match — the first first-class match on Indian soil. The match was drawn, but it formalised what would become the Bombay Tournament: the first organised cricket competition in India, founded with the encouragement of Bombay Governor Lord Harris and run continuously until 1946. Mehellasha Pavri, the Parsi fast bowler who had toured England in 1888, took several wickets.
Cricket in India dated to the East India Company in the eighteenth century but had been almost entirely an expatriate pastime. The Parsi community was the first Indian group to take it up seriously; the Parsi Cricket Club had been founded in 1848. The 1888 Parsi tour of England, led by Pestonji Kanga, established that Indian sides could compete with English county opposition.
Lord Harris arrived as Governor in 1890 and made cricket development a personal priority. The 1892 first-class match was the first product of that policy.
The annual Parsis v Europeans fixture had been played in Bombay since 1877. From 1892 it was put on a formal first-class footing, partly because of Lord Harris's encouragement as Governor (1890-95) and partly because of the standard of cricket reached after the 1888 Parsi tour of England. The 26 August 1892 match was the first to receive what would later be retrospectively called first-class status.
M.E. Pavri, the genuine fast bowler who had taken 170 wickets at 11.66 on the 1888 tour of England, opened the bowling for the Parsis. He was supported by P.D. Kanga and Dinshaw Writer. The Europeans batted first; the match ran two days and was drawn — the standard for early Bombay matches, which were time-limited and rarely produced positive results.
The more important development was structural. From 1907 the fixture became a triangular tournament with the Hindus added; from 1912 the Muslims joined to make it a Quadrangular; from 1937 a fifth team (the Rest, comprising Christians, Buddhists and Jews) made it the Pentangular. The competition ran until 1946 and, under Lord Harris's broader encouragement, produced almost every Indian cricketer of consequence before independence.
26 Aug 1892: Match begins at Bombay Gymkhana.
Pavri opens the Parsi bowling.
Two-day match; first first-class fixture in India.
Match drawn — typical of time-limited early Bombay games.
1907: Hindus added to make Triangular.
1912: Muslims added to make Quadrangular.
1937: 'The Rest' added to make Pentangular.
1946: Tournament ends; Ranji Trophy succeeds it as principal Indian competition.
1848
Parsi Cricket Club founded in Bombay.
1886
First Parsi tour of England.
1888
Second Parsi tour; Pavri 170 wickets.
1890
Lord Harris arrives as Bombay Governor.
26 Aug 1892
First first-class match in India: Parsis v Europeans.
“Lord Harris took an interest in our cricket as no English Governor had done before, and the Parsi cricketers profited most.”
The Bombay Quadrangular (later Pentangular) was the principal Indian first-class competition until 1934, when the Ranji Trophy was founded with the support of Ranjitsinhji. Many of India's first Test cricketers — Vijay Hazare, Vinoo Mankad, the Nayudu brothers, the Parsi C.S. Nayudu — emerged through the Bombay tournament.
The starting point of organised Indian first-class cricket. The Parsi-European fixture became the Bombay Tournament; the Bombay Tournament produced India's Test cricketers.
The 1892 fixture is the legal beginning of Indian first-class cricket. The Bombay Tournament's communal structure — teams selected by religion — was eventually criticised in the 1930s by Indian nationalists, including Mahatma Gandhi, who called for its abolition; it ended in 1946 against independence. The Ranji Trophy that succeeded it is the modern Indian first-class competition.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.